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Engineering Healing

By Dawn Hibbard

Initial tests involved a scaled-down rod pictured here in the foreground with the human-sized rod in the background.
Injuries to the lower leg, including trauma caused in battle, in an automobile accident, from a gunshot wound or other trauma, have historically proven difficult for doctors to treat. Dr. Patrick Atkinson, professor of Mechanical Engineering, is working with orthopedic surgeons at McLaren Regional Medical Center to develop more effective treatment for this type of injury.

Their research focuses on stabilizing the lower leg during the healing process. “We had to simulate a big injury, similar to a fracture caused by a bullet striking bone—not necessarily what we would see in the United States, but more from a large caliber gunshot wound occurring far away from a hospital in a challenging environment,” Atkinson said.

Such wounds tend to have large bone and soft tissue defects. When mixed with mud and dirt, there is a high risk of infection, according to Atkinson. Military situations may also include a long trip to medical care. All of these factors are major issues contributing to the difficulty of getting a bone to heal and an elevated risk of infection. “They make treatment challenging,” Atkinson said.

Beran (left) and Atkinson compare measurement data with Kettering graduate student Veneetha Gheebarughese of Lake Orion, Mich. Their initial testing was completed on a small scale.
It is just this challenge Atkinson and Dr. Casey Beran, M.D., McLaren Regional Medical Center and Hurley Medical Center, Orthopedic Surgery resident, and Vineetha Gheebarughese, of Lake Orion, a Kettering graduate student, are working to address.

In total, four entities are involved in the research project: Kettering University, Michigan Technological University, Mott Community College (MCC) and the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) in San Antonio. “We’re leveraging our resources to solve the problem,” said Atkinson.

“Traditionally there are two ways to treat severe injuries to the lower extremities. One method is to amputate the lower leg, which is easier on the patient overall,” he said. It takes an amputation patient about one month to then be fitted for a prosthetic and rehabilitate to become ambulatory more quickly. The negative aspect of amputation is that the person is missing a part of their body.

Severe wounds to the lower leg present a variety of challenges, including less soft tissue to cover, hydrate, and deliver blood to the wound area, making it harder to promote healing in the shin bone. In a thigh injury there is generally more soft tissue available to promote healing.

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